Junta’s second-in-command urges census cooperation

By Admin 12 Jul 2024

DMG Newsroom
12 July 2024, Sittwe

Deputy junta chief Soe Win has urged Myanmar people to “cooperate in census-taking as a national duty” as he addressed an event to mark World Population Day on Thursday.

The nationwide population census is scheduled for October 1-15. Soe Win said the census would contribute to compiling accurate voter lists necessary for holding a general election slated for next year.

“It is necessary to conduct the population and housing census to obtain demographic and socioeconomic data,” said Soe Win.

Sceptics of the process note that the regime has ceded dozens of towns to anti-junta forces in Arakan, Shan, Karen, Kachin, Karenni states, and Sagaing Region, in recent months.

A politician who asked for anonymity said: “The regime keeps dreaming its election dream, so it will try to conduct the population census. But it will only be able to conduct the census in areas it controls.”

Myanmar conducted its first census in three decades in 2014. That United Nations-backed effort found that the country had a population of just over 51 million people, much lower than a widely cited pre-census estimate of around 60 million. 

The country has seen a significant exodus of its people since the 2021 coup and ensuing civil war, with refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries or seeking employment and better prospects elsewhere abroad.